April 13, after lunch, still Day 1

     After lunch I walked to the local shopping plaza to pick up a cable for the I-pod at Radio Shack, and spent some time looking in all the shops. 
     As I was leaving I met a man who is docked across from us, Ron, from Naples.  He has a 32' Island Packet.  He is also heading to Exumas, but then on to Grenada, alone.  We stopped at the Poop Deck for a beer.   We'll see much more of Ron later on.
     Back on the boat, we soon started drinking seriously - rum IS ok with diet coke if it has lots of lime!

    After a few of them we headed to Fish Fry, did the conch salad and scorched conch again at MY favorite place - still my favorite.  Here is Alex, my favorite conch salad maker.  I don't know the name of his shop, it's the one closest to town.  Then on to Seafood Haven for wonderful cracked lobster - we shared.

     Back home, Marco joined us for drinks and conversation.  I slept well.

In Nassau

Passion is a mess – they had a rough crossing and maybe hadn’t had time to stow things away before I arrived?  John indicated he would need the day for some minor repairs and other prep.
While he and his mate, Jose worked, I sunbathed on the nice lounge cushion John had set up on the front deck, snoozed a little, after all, I had little sleep the night before.

 Jose went up the 
mast to adjust the wind-vane and take some pictures.  John and Marco hoist him up.  Marco is major-domo to Tiger Simonet, who owns TPA Marina, as well as several boats there, including the 147 ' Maratani X.  He owns Kalik beer.


 

 

 We walked to Mackenzie's at Potter's Cay for lunch - I had  my first conch salad of the trip - it was good, although a bit hotter than I like it.  John's scorched conch was good, too, and Jose had a beautiful fish plate.

Why this voyage?

Day 1, April 13, 2010

I decided to treat myself to a birthday cruise.  I contacted my old friend “Captain John” Colonna, who is a childhood friend.  He agreed to take me on a Bahama Birthday Cruise.  Here’s the story.  Passion is his boat, he is a licensed Captain. Note that we did this with no other crew.

5:45 AM town car to FLL
8 AM flight to Nassau
9:30 Arrive TPA marina, first view of Passion, Yay !!

Note: Words in italics are added later for clarification of thoughts or pictures.

Welcome to my Travel Blog

If you know me at all, you know I love to travel. On my last trip, I kept a journal, wishing all the time I had a computer to do a blog. So, I am home, and I am converting my journal into an illustrated blog. It’s my first, so here goes.